Dark Embrace (Principatus) (10 page)

Haral bestowed her with a warm look of love. “Yes. Of course you will.” And in one fluid move, he yanked the bitch from the floor and tore her head from her body.

Turning to the silent guards standing at the ballroom’s main doorway, he threw the pathetic thing’s remains at their feet. “Toss that into the street. Let the dogs feed on it until the sun turns it to mulch.”

An image of Ezryn filled Haral’s head and he grinned, his prick growing hard with cold elation. It was time to show Ezzie that
he
was the stronger brother, the
better
brother. The brother fit to rule the vampire race. Haral, not Ezryn, no matter what the fawning fools who followed the bastard believed.

It was time to show Ezzie just what his twin brother was capable of achieving. And how merciless he could be.

Chapter Four

Going without sleep wasn’t working. Nor, Inari was disgusted to discover, was spending the daylight hours running on Bondi Beach. She’d spent the morning scaring off perverted men lurking near unsuspecting children before moving to her local gym to kick the shit out of a punching bag. When her clothes were so wet they clung to her body the gym owner—a gruff old retired boxer who didn’t care squat for anyone—told her to go home before she collapsed. No matter what she’d tried in the last twenty hours, Inari couldn’t get the master vampire out of her head.

It was driving her insane.
He
was driving her insane.

She glared at the sun sinking behind the western horizon, the towering office blocks and apartment complexes of Sydney heart throwing shadows over her that should have chilled her warm flesh but instead made her angrier. Night was upon her, and all she wanted to do was track down the bloodsucker and pick up where they’d left off in the Pleasure Pussy.

Fuck it.

Shaking her head, she turned from the sunset and shoved her way along the crowded footpath, making her way toward home. Whether her body was telling her it wanted hard, wild sex with a vampire or not, she still had a job to do. The Powers may not have assigned her a target, but she hadn’t forgotten the prickling heat razing the back of her neck last night. Somewhere in the city was a demon she needed to find and find soon. The idea of a demon watching her didn’t help her current state of mind at all. As soon as she got home, she’d change into something a little more appropriate for demon killing, weapon up and go on the hunt. If she were lucky, she’d find the unknown creature making her neck feel like it was covered in fire ants within the first few hours and could then spend the rest of the night at an all-night movie marathon watching cult musicals and doing her damndest to keep the thought of the master vampire out of her head.

Yeah. Like singing “The Time Warp” is going to work. The only way you’re going to get the bloodsucker out of your head is to screw him out of it, and you know damn well that’s not going to happen.

She hurried her pace, the thought irritating her. She really needed to track down Ven Watkins. She needed to talk to the supreme Principatus. Ask him the questions she should have asked when first reborn as an assassin. He was notoriously secretive, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She’d spared his only brother’s life twenty years ago, after all. He owed her. Embarrassing or not, she needed to know if she could—

The back of her neck itched. Not just a prickling heat, but a full-on, incinerating blaze that shot up the back of her head and turned her scalp to a crawling, burning skull-cap.

She spun on her heel, her stare jumping around the busy, early evening crowd. Oxford Street was its usual flamboyant self—transvestites, straights, gays, bis, tourists and businessmen all jostling for prime footpath position as they moved together across the gray concrete past organic cafes, hydroponic shops, independent book stores and lavish restaurants overflowing with beautiful people dressed in retro fashions. Not one of them radiated any hint of demon power. Not one of them paid her any attention. Hell, not even the straight guys looked her way, their attentions firmly fixed on their iPhones and iPods as they weaved through the eclectic melee on their way to wherever.

The fiery prickle crawled up the back of her neck again, stronger this time.

Inari turned a perfect three-sixty, scanning the people around her. People. That’s all they were.

So what’s watching you? Who’s watching you? And where is the bastard?

Demon. A powerful one. Close by.

She narrowed her eyes, concentrating her senses on the mass around her. The scent of sexually active males and females flowed through her, along with some ambiguously androgynous ones. The pit of her belly reacted to the stimulus, her sex contracting instinctually at the overtly potent taste of mature men on the air.

The reaction made her grind her teeth. It had been a long while since her body had been so responsive to the human Y chromosome, so…

Hungry for it?

She bit back a growl, sinking her nails into her palms. It was that cursed master vampire’s fault. She’d denied her succubus nature completely before he found her in the Pleasure Pussy. How was she to pinpoint the location of the demon nearby when all she could think about was fucking?

Just fucking?
Tianya’s voice questioned.
Or just fucking him?

“Oh, for God’s sake, shut up.” Rolling her eyes, she started walking again, pushing her way through the Oxford Street crowd. The itch on her neck had not subsided. In fact, she could almost believe it had become more intense. The demon filth somewhere in her location was very powerful.

And taunting her?

Quickening her step, she headed toward Kings Cross. It would take twenty minutes, give or take a few minutes, to walk to her home via the most direct route. If the non-human was, as she suspected, tracking her, the chances of it confronting her were minimal. If she took the backstreets however, those only used by locals, those dark and shadowy and perfect for an ambush…

She felt the adrenaline turning her blood hot flow more freely through her veins. Her nipples pinched hard. She was uncertain what aroused her so much, but she hoped to all the levels of hell it was the notion of being stalked by a soon-to-be-dead piece of demon scum. Twenty years of being in control of her libido only to have it destroyed by one nameless master vampire would really piss her—

“Hello, Principatus.”

The deep voice, smooth and yet at the same time gravelly, slipped into her right ear. She spun around and locked her stare on that very master vampire walking silently beside her. Her heart slammed up into her throat and she gasped, her eyes growing wide. “How did you—?” Her pussy fluttered, an eager throb that almost made her catch her step.

He chuckled, the sound just as low and gravelly as his voice. “Not sure, really. I thought of your delicious flesh, your honeyed cream, and I knew where to go.”

Heat flooded Inari’s face. Liquid heat flooded her sex. She jerked her stare from his ink-black eyes and hurried her stride. “Aren’t you clever,” she snarled, ignoring the licentious ache between her thighs. “Now go away.”

The vampire chuckled again. The wicked sound sent a ripple up Inari’s spine. “You are an enigma, Inari Chayse. The last Principatus I came face to face with tried to destroy me.”

Inari shot him a sideward glance. “What? You practically rape them in a strip club too?”

His black eyes glinted red. The muscles in his jaw bunched. “We both know what occurred between us in the Pleasure Pussy was mutually consensual. Do I need remind you the very title that fell from your lips?”

Master
.

The shameful word whispered in Inari’s head, and her feet stumbled beneath her.

Before she could right herself, the vamp curled his strong hand around her upper arm, bringing her to a halt. She turned to glare at him, the urge to smash her fist into his face almost as powerful as the urge to press her body to his. Was he the one she’d sensed? And if so, why wasn’t her neck on fire now? He was touching her, for God’s sake. You couldn’t get much closer than that.

Yes, you can.

The soft whisper in her mind was entirely her own voice, ripe with suggestive promise.

“Why are you following me?” she demanded. “Haven’t you got some emo-packed rave to be worshipped at?”

“I’m not following you.”

“So, what? You just picked a random spot in Sydney to visit and it happened to be right beside me?”

He gave her a half smile. “Interestingly enough, that’s exactly what happened.”

She narrowed her glare.

“I told you,” he went on, his fingers cool on her arm, “I thought of you…
all
of you…and knew where to go.”

Inari’s pulse thumped in her neck, the emphasis of the word
all
not wasted on her. “I can tell you where to go,”

His answering laugh was easygoing. Relaxed. “Yeah, I bet you could.”

“So if you’re not following me, why
did
you think of me?”

The question, meant to be innocuously insulting, made Inari’s sex flutter, and she pulled in a sharp breath. She did not want to be aroused by this bloodsucker. She really, really didn’t.

Too late.

“Let me go,” she snapped, tugging at his grip. “And fuck off.”

Refusing her request, he studied her, eyes black once again. “I find you fascinating, Inari Chayse.”

Inari’s already rapid pulse thumped faster. “I find you annoying.”

He chuckled, his fingers curling firmer. “No, you don’t.”

“Fuck off.”

The sides of his mouth curled. A little. “Do all assassins of the Principatus order have such filthy mouths?”

She glared at him some more. “No. Now fuck. Off.”

He laughed again and Inari bit back a groan. There wasn’t a smug, snide or malevolent note to it. It was an infectious laugh, unlike any she’d heard before from a bloodsucker. Every other vamp she’d heard laugh sounded like they were auditioning for the role of arch villain in a James Bond film. His laugh, though, was completely relaxed and honest. It worried her. Not because he was laughing at her, but because it made her want to laugh too. By the Powers, what was wrong with her?

Maybe it has something to do with the fact you’ve dreamt about him for what feels like your entire Principatus existence?

She snarled. Maybe it had something to do with the fact she was insane?

Yeah. That had to be it.

With a slight pressure on her arm, he began walking, encouraging her to walk in step beside him, and before she realized what she was doing, she was.

See? Insane.

She swallowed, all too aware of his hand still loosely holding her arm. All too aware of the fact she
was
walking beside him.
Walking
beside him, not struggling or fighting or trying to kill him. Walking beside him with her arm still held by his cold—

A young man of stunning beauty stepped directly in their path, his stare fixed firmly on the vampire beside her, and instantly the back of Inari’s neck prickled with heat.

Vampire.
She clenched her fists.

The one that’s been teasing you?

She reached out with her Principatus power, gauging the new arrival’s strength. Cold consternation rippled up her spine. The vamp standing before her, looking up at the master vampire with undeniable awe, was barely a babe by bloodsucker standards. There wasn’t a hope he was the demon responsible for her earlier reaction. Hell, she was surprised her neck even itched at all.

“I am Eliah Bartowski, my master,” he gushed, open reverence and worship on his seamlessly perfect face. “I came to Sydney to give you my thanks and swear my loyalty.”

Inari narrowed her eyes. Swear loyalty?

The bloodsucker holding her arm shook his head, the action almost embarrassed. “You do not need to thank me, Eliah. I only stopped what was meant to be stopped.”

“You faced the overlord’s wrath for a bleeder you had never met. You defied his order when it would have been easier to allow his zealots to carry out his command.”

“What command was that?” Inari jumped in, doing her best to ignore the master vampire on her right as he squeezed her biceps with icy fingers.

Eliah Bartowski raised his perfect eyebrows, his beautiful face marred by a horror so absolute it made her stomach roll. “To feed from my wife until she was drained. To butcher my daughter for being a half-caste.”

Inari’s stomach churned some more. Half-caste? The offspring of a human and vampire? She’d heard of such children being born but had never encountered one. As far as she was aware, half-castes did not survive long. She gave the obviously nervous young vamp a steady look. “Why did the overlord order such a thing?” she asked, steadfastly refusing to acknowledge the man—
the bloodsucking demon, Inari, the bloodsucking demon
—gripping her arm. “Why did my
friend
here—” she threw a sideward nod at him, “—stop it?”

Eliah’s eyebrows rose again. “Because he is—”

“Very happy your wife and child are safe,” the master vamp interrupted with smooth poise, his voice playing over Inari’s senses and turning her mounting curiosity to something far more irritating—sexual awareness.